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Coast Guard: Life jacket saves man from drowning near Point Louisa

JUNEAU ­— The Coast Guard says a life jacket kept a 43-year-old man afloat as a crab pot line wrapped around his leg was pulling him down.

“This is a classic case of how life jackets can save lives,” Petty Officer 1st Class Brent Flanick, a search and rescue controller at Sector Juneau said in a statement. “In this instance the gentleman could very well have been pulled to the ocean floor.”

Sector Juneau said in a release they received a report came of an overdue boater Monday, who had capsized and was stranded in the water near Auke Bay near Point Louisa Monday.

The report came from a concerned friend who said the man was last seen padding his canoe in the area around 9 a.m., and that he could no longer see him as he worked near crab pots, the release states.

The Coast Guard launched a 25-foot Response Boat Small from Auke Bay marina to the area and heard the man’s cries for help.

Crew members cut the line that was wrapped around his leg and pulled him to safety. A release states he was beginning to suffer from mild hypothermia and shock.

The release states he was taken back to shore where Capital City Fire and Rescue crews were waiting for him and took him to the hospital.